Chess Video Lessons

What happens when the Albin Counter Gambit meets up with GM Finegold's opening repertoire? A Chigorin cousin with queenside knights is born! Finegold speculates that the opening is far better than its reputation, and sets out to prove it by showing three games in less than 15 minutes! If offbeat but playable openings are your thing, this land-speed record will set you off on the right foot. Why not enter choose an opening you'll know more about than your opponent? | Watch video

Sure, the Closed Spanish, Open Spanish and Berlin have all been popular at times in the last 30 years, but don't forget about another solid variation against the Lopez: the Steinitz Defense. Players looking for a solid structure with a minimal space disadvantage might just catch their opponents by surprise with 3...d6. Today GM Dzindzichashvili focuses on 4. d4 and both possible recaptures. If it is good enough for a preeminent theoretician, it it surely good enough for you! | Watch video

What's better than beating a world-class GM? How about having him congratulate you afterward! Watch GM Simon Williams show no fear by playing the Classical Dutch against GM Boris Gelfand (OK, he was quite nervous). Today you'll see why an early ...a5 is the suggested antidote to an early b4. The Stonewall pawn structure is also recommended, but that trademark kingside attack is still there in waiting! | Watch video

What happens in the Chigorin, stays in the Chigorin. Except today, when GM Finegold spills the beans on the cxd5 variation. Black attacks the center with pieces, not pawns, and to great effect. Watch a trio of games in which our offbeat-opening connoisseur wrests the initiative away from the first player. If Ivanchuk can play it against Kasparov, then surely it will work at your chess club or on Chess.com! | Watch video

The English and the Americans, brought together by the Dutch?! That's the case today on Chess.com as GM Williams prepares with two poker players and flops the nuts versus a top GM. The scintillating attack features some great moments to improve your tactics and calculation. We won't be paying Williams to do any videos on defense any time soon. But he's brilliant in attack, and today he shows you why aggression should be your default setting. See what he turns over on the river to win the pot! | Watch video

GM Dzindzichashvili concludes his Trompowsky Trio with an edition focused on 3. Bh4. He doesn't hide his disdain for the variation but he does caution you about many traps that could befall the unwary player. Black often has open g- and c-files, while White opens his d- and f-files. That's a strange imbalance, but it rewards the more prepared player. Watch and see how Black can attempt to punish White, but take note of the plentiful ways the second player can get mated right out of the opening! | Watch video

GM Simon Williams, one of the most frequent practitioners of the Dutch Defense, shows why it isn't the opening's fault that he is 0-3 against GM Alexei Shirov. Today the plan of ...Ne4 and the importance of ...e5 are spotlighted. You'll learn some of the attacking themes to use and pawn structures to avoid. After the opening lesson, you also get to see Shirov be Shirov with a textbook exchange sac. What is it with Latvians and their devastating attacks? Watch the Baltic Blitz! | Watch video

Back by popular demand, GM Ben Finegold begins a three-part series on his favorite defense to 1. d4 - the Chigorin. He promises you'll get an exciting position that you'll know better than White. Today he focuses on some pedestrian replies from the first player, but they also happen to be the most common moves. Watch and see that even though Ben knows a ton about the opening, he once had a 7-year-old student teach him something new! | Watch video

If you only watch one video on the Dutch, it must be this one! GM Ginger, the author of books on the opening, synthesizes the main points into this introductory video. Watch him discuss the pawn structures and attacking formations while he flashes some tactics. Beating a 2700 is as simple as "throwing your bits at him." Now go chuck your army at the king and beat a Super-GM - let us know in the comments who you took down! | Watch video

GM Dzindzichashvili is not a believer in the Trompowsky. Today he is not satisfied with equality as Black - he wants the computer's evaluation to start with the "minus" symbol! He will walk you through the intricacies of 3. Bf4 and show you positional plans from White and the more popular fighting systems. Have you ever chosen the really smart student as your study partner? That's what it's like getting to hear Roman's analysis! | Watch video

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